Geophysicists have come to believe that the Earth was covered with a thick crust more than four billion years ago. New measurements challenge that theory, indicating the importance of crustal destruction in Earth's early history.
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Carlson, R. Where has all the old crust gone?. Nature 379, 581–582 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/379581a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/379581a0